Infinite Stars
by ShadowStar91
Summary: After escaping the Jedi, Vestara is left planning her next move when she recieves a vision of a blond teen with whiskers on his cheeks. Tracking him down reveals a powerful maelstrom of Force power, and a darkness of depths and power unimaginable. Now a new Sith is rising in the galaxy, one with powers beyond the Force. The dark side is stronger than ever. Sith!Naruto/Vestara
1. Prologue

Just like the first time I vanished and came back with a new laptop and new chapters, I'm also coming in with new stories to go with the occasion. This time a Naruto / Star Wars crossover that's been buzzing in my head for a couple weaks. I was actually planning this one when the first laptop was broken so during my exile I added more to my plans until I came to this. I have a lot planned for this one so I'm hoping it will go far.

Some info before starting is that this takes place after the Fate of the Jedi books. For those that don't know, they take place around 40+ years after the Battle of Yavin 4 at the end of Episode IV: A New Hope. I really liked the plot of the nine books and especially the character Vestara Khai. She had a lot of potential for either Jedi or Sith as she worked on both sides at different times. Her relationship with Ben was also really well written and believable as she started to fall for him but they couldn't be together since she was a Sith and he was Jedi. But then when she joined the Jedi everything was looking up for them until she fell back to her old ways to save herself and Ben from death and then betrayed the Jedi as a whole by revealing Allana's secret and attacking the Solos, even if it was mostly out of self-preservation at the time. Her fate at the end of Apocolypse was rather up in the air, with her flying off in Ship while it calls her a Sith Lord and reveals the existance of other Sith she could help.

All in all, I just saw so much potential as to where the series can go from there just off Vestara alone, not even counting Luke, Ben or any of the other Jedi. And so I got to thinking about a possible plotline for it. And since I love Naruto so much, I thought that maybe I could combine them into one story and came up with this.

A few last notes before I get into the story is that Naruto will be a Sith in this. Meaning he'll be evil for the most part. Sasuke will start off Sith but then later will go to the Jedi. Also, the first third or so of the story will take place on Naruto's world before I unleash the blond on the rest of the galaxy. So don't expect the Jedi to make an appearance for a while. The last thing is the pairing. Naruto will be paired with Vestara as I think I can make them work. I don't have any other pairing thought of yet but am open to suggestions, though I do want to pair Sasuke with a Jedi. I might even make OCs if I feel like it.

Now onto the prologue to _Infinite Stars_!

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

Endor - Abandonded Clearing

Vestara sighed as she closed her eyes. The young newly ranked Sith Lord was sitting cross-legged on a flat rock in the middle of a clearing she herself had made using her lightsaber and the Force to use as a meditation spot. With her long brown hair pulled behind her head in a braided tail, small curved scar off the left edge of her mouth, and still wearing the somewhat worn robes of a Jedi from her time with the Order, the now seventeen year old human girl didn't look like the powerful and dangerous woman she was known as. Calming her mind and focusing on nothing in particular, Vestara allowed the Force to fill her before letting her mind drift where it would. It wasn't long at all it was looking back at what got her to Endor in the first place.

It had only been a week since she had helped Ben Skywalker and the rest of the Jedi slay an evil Force entity named Abeloth. What had started over a year ago on her homeworld of Kesh had gone from trying to prove herself to her betters as a true Sith of the Lost Tribe to her now being a runaway, scorned by her own people for her actions and hunted down by the Jedi for others she commited. Originally Kesh was isolated, lacking the space-faring vessels to travel the stars. And then Ship had arrived. The Sith Meditation Sphere had insantly felt her potential and drew a connection with her while also guiding the Lost Tribe into the stars to steal the ships of others, making the first fleet her people have had in over five thousand years. With their newly gained freedom from the trappings of their beautiful homeworld, they had begun to covertly attack other ships to add to their collection as well as spread the power of the dark side through the galaxy. And then she as well as the Lords of the Lost Tribe sensed a powerful preseance in the Force and were informed it was that of Luke Skywalker. Before they could decide what to do about the Grand Master of the Jedi Order, Ship had been compelled to abandon them for some strange yet powerful being of the dark side. The Lost Tribe refused to give Ship up willingly though and had sent a force after the sphere, bringing their attention to Abeloth.

They tracked the ancient and sentient ship to a secluded planet in the Maw, a cluster of black holes at the edge of the galaxy, and chased it down to the planet only to be attacked by carnivorous plants and sicknesses. Eventually they discovered a stranded young woman named Abeloth and stayed near her until they were down to the last of their people and ships. It was then that Vestara saw the woman for what she really was; a monster. Abeloth had been controlling the plants to attack and kill the force her people had brought to reclaim Ship and was even the one who originally compelled it to leave the Tribe in the first place and come to her. The being had wanted a way off her planet and called to Ship through the Force but when the Sith followed after what they viewed as their property she had modified her plans to make use of them. Finding out that Luke Skywalker and his son Ben were nearby on a space station had allowed Abeloth to work her charm and powers over the strike force and convince them to help her capture the Jedi pair. The attempt though had not gone as planned.

Luke and Ben were far stronger than they were led to believe and in the end it had come down to Vestara and her master Lady Rhea against Luke Skywalker while Ben prepped their ship for an escape. Luke had taken advantage of a single opening and suddenly Lady Rhea was in four pieces and Vestara had stolen another ship off the station to flee. She was tracked though to Dathomir where she had tried to hide among the natives after contacting her people to be picked up. Things had progressed on the planet smoothly until the time came for her to take her leave, which went horribly wrong as Luke and Ben followed her to the meeting point and attacked, killing her comrades and capturing her. But just as they left the planet with her as a prisoner, the fleet of her people came out of hyperspace and surrounded the Skywalkers ship, the _Jade Shadow_, and demanded they stand down. Vestara had actually felt some hope she would be advanced above the mere apprentice she was since she was the only survivor of two battles against the Skywalkers and had vital information for her people. Such a hope was dashed though when the Lost Tribes' demands were known.

The Lost Tribe wanted an alliance with the Skywalkers so that they could deal with Abeloth. The Jedi had reason to want her gone as they had dicovered she was the source of a strange illness that was afflicting young Jedi and making them believe everyone around them had been replaced by fakes, fakes they would violently attack in their delusions of finding the 'real' people. The commander of the fleet, High Lord Sarasu Taalon, claimed the same was happening to their own young Sith and they wanted to get Abeloth to stop. It was a lie though Luke suspected it from the moment it was said. Still, he agreed as Abeloth needed to be stopped. As a sort of safe-guard against treachery, Vestara had been forced to stay with the Skywalkers instead of returning to her people. It was during this internment that she had begun to fall for Ben, and he in turn for her. Though the two would never be able to be together so long as they were on opposite sides, they still tried to be close as well as turn the other to their own side so that they could be together.

When the Tribe and Skywalkers actually went back to the isolated planet and confronted Abeloth though, everything began to change. They killed her just to learn that she could possess multiple bodies, essentially surviving any encounter provided she had another body. Her second body fled by stealing the Skywalkers own ship while Luke, Ben, Taalon, her father Gavar Khai, and herself were investigating a strange area known as the Pool of Knowledge. In the Pool, Taalon saw a vision of a Jedi queen ruling the galaxy as peace and light were spread throughout. Not wanting this vision to pass, Taalon ordered Vestara to discover all he could about this 'queen' and kill her. Vestara had then fled with Luke and Ben when they stole Taalon's ship as part of the ruse, having been beaten to make it seem like they were upset with her failure and punishing her. The three had tracked Abeloth down to another planet where she was hiding among the Fallanassi people but when Taalon caught up he had changed. He had fallen into the Pool of Knowledge and was beginning to become a creature like Abeloth was. Seeing that Abeloth herself was beginning to hold sway over the High Lord Vestara had chosen to kill him herself.

This action though, had caused her to truly flee with the Skywalkers after Abeloth as her own people would kill her for slaying a High Lord, regardless of the reason. During this time Vestera and Ben had grown even closer while tracking Abeloth down to another planet where she was again hiding among the local Force-sensitve population, this time the Theran Listeners of Nam Chorios. When they confronted Abeloth and beat her again, the Sith had also caught up and attacked but were repelled by a strike force of Jedi StealthX starfighters. Again chosing to stay with the Jedi rather than return to her people due to her fear of the consequences, Vestara was once more helping Luke and Ben chase down Abeloth, now joined by Luke's neice and Ben's cousin Jaina Solo, the Sword of the Jedi.

They traveled to a few planets strong in the dark side before finding a small group of her people led by her father Gavar on Dromund Kaas. Her father though had informed her that her mother had been killed when Abeloth destroyed Tahv, the capital city of Kesh and the Lost Tribe. He then went on to call her a traitor and attack her, trying to kill her. Vestara saw that Abeloth had warped her fathers' mind into something else and she had fought back, drawing on her hate of Abeloth and despair at her fathers' fall to turn the attack back against Gavar and kill him. Having lost her mother to Abeloth and then being forced to kill her own father Vestara was lost and turned to Ben and the Jedi for help, even asking if she could become a Jedi. Ben had been expectedly estatic about her choice since the two had gotten close enough to be an official couple whereas Luke was a little more weary but willing to give her a chance and agreed to teach her.

Things had been seemingly going up from there until they got an idea as to where Abeloth was hiding and went to attack her. The result though was a disaster as Vestara, Ben and a Falleen Jedi named Natua Wan were forced to fight against a mutated Sith insect called a Rhak-Skuri while the rest of the Jedi were led into a trap that claimed many of them. In the fight against the Rhak-Skuri though, Vestara could see they couldn't win and decided to appease the creature by attacking Natua so that she was taken while rescuing Ben when he had be indisposed and lost in the nightmares the insect inflicted. Ben and the Jedi never discovered what she had done but Vestara knew and it told her that she could never be a Jedi, that she would forever be Sith. She still stayed with the Jedi though, hoping to hide it for as long as she could until they learned of her betrayel and would be forced to flee again.

The Jedi and Vestara then focused on returning to Coruscant and freeing it from the control of Abeloth and the remaining members of the Lost Tribe. Vestara especially wanted to kill what was left of her peoples leadership as she knew should she leave the safety of the Jedi they would hunt her down for what she had done to Taalon. During the assualt of the occupied Jedi Temple, Vestara had been seperated from the rest of the Jedi force and fleed into the tunnels beneath the Temple followed by a Sith force intent on capturing her, though she didn't know that at the time and believed they would kill her. Eventually she had been trapped against a security door and in a last attempt to save her life she tried to play up the secret mission Taalon had given her before she killed him, the mission to discover and kill the 'Jedi queen'. During her time with the Jedi she had come to secretly discover that the queen from Taalon's vision was none other than Allana Solo, the daughter of Jacen Solo and Hapan Queen Mother Tenel Ka and currently hiding her identity as Amelia Solo, a force sensitive orphan Han and Leia had 'adopted' to help deal with the pain Jacen's death had caused. The strike force believed her lie about the mission just as the door opened and revealed that young Allana was coming towards the door for reasons unknown. Seeing the perfect opprotunity the Tribe had forced her to lead the attack on the girl and her grandparents to prove her loyalty, which she did only to be taken prisoner anyways and brought to Abeloth who had wanted her for a reason she didn't know.

When Ben was also captured and brought to Abeloth, the monster took them both in Ship and flew back to her planet where she tried to corrupt them with a dark side nexus called the Font of Power, claiming she would make them into beings like herself as manifestations of the Light and Dark sides of the Force and together the three would then rule the galaxy. However Ben was too pure to fall for her temptations and Vestara hated Abeloth for all the things she had done. Together the two and slain her while simultaneous attacks were being conducted against her other avatars, finally slaying her for good.

Vestara's good fortune didn't last though as Jaina Solo had come to rescue Ben and capture Vestara as she knew what the girl had tried against Allana and told Ben, who also turned against her even though he still loved her and she him. What neither of the Jedi expected though, and was a very nice and welcome surprise to Vestara, was for her to be rescued by Ship and taken away to safety, the spheres' freedom being regained with Abeloth's final true death. Ship had taken her offworld telling her that with her power and knowledge she was now a Sith Lord and that the other Sith in the galaxy would need her help to conquer it as she knew more about the Skywalkers and the Jedi in general than any Sith currently alive.

That was a week ago. Rather than head straight for the other Sith though, Vestara had commanded Ship to go somewhere to hide so they both could recover from their wounds and so that she could gather herself and plan for the future. Ship chose to hide them on Endor since it was a planet important to the Jedi, being the place where Luke and the Rebellion had destroyed the second Death Star and killed Emperor Palpatine. Being a place important to them rather than the Sith made it an unlikely choice for Vestara to hide on, which is why when Ship suggested it she had agreed instantly. It would be the last place the Jedi would look for her.

Opening her eyes, Vestara stood up and started to walk back towards her camp, adjusting the belt holding her lightsaber and shikkar as she did. Ship had gone into what could be considered a healing trance for the sentient machine while she had instead made herself a tolerable campsite next to the transport. She had spoken with Ship extensively during the week as it, or he as she preffered since it came off as masculine to her, was the only thing that spoke Basic on the forest moon other than her. She avoided the indiginous Ewoks and larger predators as she didn't want to deal with them and instead focused on the smaller prey and edible plants. With another sigh, Vestara came into her camp site and sat down next to the fire pit, into which she threw some extra branches and ignited with a smll spark of lightning she conjured with the Force.

_"Something bothers you Lady Khai?"_ Ship asked, his voice coming to her mind as his telepathic communication always did. She inwardly was still trying to get used to being called Lady Khai, as she had only been named a Lord last week, and by Ship himself too. To anyone else that knew her, she was Vestara Khai, a Sith Apprentice formerly of the Lost Tribe. But Ship declared her a Lord and as an ancient training vessel for the Sith of old, it would know more than any other what made a good Lord and what didn't. If Ship named her a Lord, than to the Sith of old she would have been granted the rank.

"I'm merely thinking of what to do when I go to meet these other Sith you mentioned." Vestara replied out loud. There was nobody else around to overhear them so she didn't bother thinking her replies but spoke them out. No need to have a mental conversation when they were alone after all.

_"The One Sith, as they call themselves. As I've told you before, their numbers may not be large but they are powerful. They merely prefer a slow approach to their conquest."_ Ship re-told her. _"However such an approach is insulting to the name Sith. Which is why they need you. With your power as well as your knowledge of the Jedi and the Skywalkers in particular, they will be able to advance their plans and move now."_ Another thing Ship would tell her as he was much like the Sith of old in that the patient approach didn't hold much weight to him. Vestara could see the wisdom in taking ones time, but if the One Sith had been waiting as long as Ship told her they had then even she could see they were taking too long. It seemed to her they were just gathering their power but were afraid of actually using it against the Jedi. Well she would change that once she went to them.

If she went to them.

"I understand your point Ship but to be honest I'm still not sure I want to go to them. After everything with Abeloth I'd rather stay hidden like this for a while longer while things calm down in the galaxy." The girl explained. If she were honest entirely she would say that the idea of taking the fight to the Jedi had lost quite a bit of appeal to her. Taking the fight to Ben even left her feeling horrible, not at all like a true Sith should.

_"You still feel for Ben."_ Ship commented, having picked up on her thoughts through the Force. Vestara didn't even bother denying it but just sighed and nodded. _"While Ben would make an excellent Sith he refuses to turn and as such is your enemy Lady Khai. As such you should use you love for him and pain over your situations as strength. Pain and passions drive a Sith, and yours are strong enough to give you great power."_

"I know this Ship." Vestara muttered. The meditation sphere had been telling her this day in and day out whenever her thoughts strayed to Ben all week. She was getting sick of it.

_"Then there should be no problem when the time comes to confront Ben or any other Jedi."_

"You're completely missing the point..."

_"What point could there be? You can draw strength from your feelings and if it is Ben you desire then you will simply move on when he is dead at your feet. The galaxy is filled with others you can replace him with."_

"And if I don't _want _to replace Ben?" Vestara growled, not liking how Ship was speaking.

_"Eventually you must. For the good of the Sith."_ The vessel told her and Vestara had enough. With a frustrated growled the girl snapped to her feet and stormed off back into the woods of the planet. As much as she liked Ship for both his uses and his insight, there were times when she absolutely hated the meditation sphere.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

Sitting once more on the flat rock in her meditation area Vestara filled her mind with the Force and tried to push Ship's words from her mind. However everything eventually came back to her reluctance to actually continue the fight against the Jedi because of her feelings for Ben. If the Sith were ever going to triumph then Ben would have to die. If she were to be a part of that triumph then she not only would have to be okay with that truth but be willing to kill him herself should the chance come. She had been warned of something like this by Lady Rhea the first night she had been taken as an apprentice.

_"Enjoy to the fullest all the trappings of power, for you will have earned them. Want everything you wish - hunger, burn for it, if that fuels you. But never love anyone or anything so much that you cannot bear to lose it."_

Which was the problem here in that despite them being enemies, she couldn't bear the thought of losing Ben, especially if it came as a consequence of her own actions or commands.

_'I need to get over him. Like Ship said; for the good of the Sith. But how can I after all we went through together? Even now after I was forced to leave and with him likely hating me, I still love him. Why do things have to be this way? Oh Ben, why couldn't you just be Sith?'_ The girl thought as she closed her eyes again and fell deeper into the Force. Eventually the sounds of Endor faded from her ears as she fell deeper into her trance until she wasn't even aware of her own breathing. There was nothing but the Force now. The conflict of the light side utilized by the Jedi and the dark side practiced by the Sith didn't even mean anything right now. There was just the power of the Force filling her very being.

_"Are you sure this is the right way?" A young male voice asked._

_"Are you questioning your Master?" Vestara's own voice replied. Her eyes seemed to open on there own revealing another forest, though not like the one of Endor. Standing towards her right was a boy that looked to be her age with spiky blond hair and lines on his cheeks wearing mostly black._

_"Sorry Vestara-sensei. It's just that, well, I sense their chakra coming from more towards the right and we're still headed straight ahead." He responded with a lowered head, as is proper for an apprentice. Closing her eyes once more Vestara reached out in the Force to feel the life of the person they were tracking down and his group. It took her only a moment to realize her apprentice was right._

_"Hm... I forget sometimes that the energy of this world clouds my senses slightly. You're right Naruto, so why don't you take the lead since you're not having that trouble." She suggested, though they both knew full well it was a command._

_"Got it sensei. Just follow me." He declared with an arrogent smirk. Vestara let him have it for now. It would make wiping it off later in combat training all the more effective to lowering his ego._

Vestara's eyes snapped back open and she looked around to see herself back on Endor. The sun had even set completely now as a few of the nocturnal predators had come out to hunt for their food. With a slight stretch of her arms over her head she headed back to her camp and Ship. Perhaps he would know what her vision truly meant?

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

_"A vision?"_ Ship asked.

"Yes. I had an apprentice named Naruto and we were heading through another forest looking for someone. Apparently there was some strange energy in the air that clouded my senses called chakra and he was a native as he was immune to it. He looked to be about my age as well and rather than Master or Lady Khai he referred to me as sensei." Vestara explained. The sphere was silent as she finished so she asked the questions that were on her mind. "Do you think I would be capable of taking on an apprentice as I am now? What does the word sensei mean? And what is this chakra energy?"

_"I do believe you could take and train an apprentice Lady Khai. In fact I believe you would be an excellent master to whoever you decide to take on as your student."_ The machine replied to answer her first question. Vestara smiled slightly, the smile seeming lopsided by the small scar that curved up from the left edge of her mouth, and nodded in acknowledgement of Ship's faith in her. _"As for your other questions, I am unsure. Sensei could be a native word for Master perhaps. And I know nothing of anything called chakra." _Ship offered so her smile changed into a scowl as she tried to puzzle out an answer from the barest pieces of info she knew. However nothing would come since it was clear she didn't know enough to tell.

"What do you think I should do?" Vestara asked, still wondering what her vision could have meant for her.

_"I am unsure. You could ignore it and continue on until the time of the vision naturally comes to pass. However since this apprentice seemed to be the same age as you, that would imply it will happen soon. Perhaps you are meant to search this male out and take him as your student."_ Ship answered, getting Vestara to nod as that sounded right. Maybe she was meant to search this boy, this Naruto, out and take him as her apprentice.

"But where to look for him?" Vestara voiced aloud, naming the problem to their seemingly decided plan to hunt down her forseen apprentice.

_"You said that in your vision the world was covered in this chakra energy, correct?" _Ship asked so she nodded. _"Then perhaps we should search for a world covered in energy with a stable and inhabitable atmosphere, since you didn't mention breathmasks or enviorment suits of any kind."_ Vestara thought it over before nodding her agreement.

"That sounds like a good plan. But where should we start our search, the galaxy is large after all." She pointed out.

_"Since there is nothing about chakra in my databanks, which have been filled from both ancient Sith records and the most current of the Galactic Allaince, it is safe to say this mystery planet would not be in known space."_ Vestara again nodded her agreement so Ship continued. _"I believe it would likely be in either the Unknown Regions or Wild Space."_

"From my time with Ben I learned that the Unknown Regions are mostly, though not entirely, ruled by the Chiss. However before they first encountered someone from the Old Republic, they apparently knew nothing about humans. So I think it's safe to assume that this planet is not in their space, which cuts out most of the Unknown Regions. Kesh is located in Wild Space but not very far in so it's still close to the known galaxy. I'd bet this planet must be farther in than Kesh." Vestara reasoned. A hole opened in Ship's front as a ramp descended for Vestara to walk up and enter his interior.

_"Then that is where we will begin our search for the next Sith in training."_

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

"Achoo!" Came the loud sneeze from a blond recently-turned-sixteen year old. He raised a finger up and rubbed his nose as his bright blue eyes opened back up from the reflexive closing his sneeze cause. On each cheek were three whisker-like lines while he wore an orange jacket and pants with black shoulders and a red spiral on the back. Across his forehead was a headband with a metal plate on the front inscribed with a spiral leaf symbol.

"You alright there gaki?" A man asked so the blond just grinned.

"I'm alright Ero-Sennin. Someone's probably just talkin' 'bout me. You know, with how awesome I am." He bragged as the man scoffed.

"As if Naruto. Despite all my training, you have yet to reach even a hint of the awesome I proclaim!" The man bragged back with a grin. Naruto scowled and was about to retort but the man held a hand up. "Before you ask, no, it seems I can't simply give you any of my awesome."

"Like I'd want anything from you pervert! If it came from you then I'd probably be in jail somewhere for peeping on women!"

"Gaki, how many times do I have to tell you? I'm not a pervert! I'm a super~pervert!" He cheered making Naruto slap him face in embarrassment.

"And you wonder why I won't stop calling you Ero-Sennin..." He muttered. The man just waved it off.

"Eh, anyways we should be getting back to Konoha in about a month at this pace. I've done just about all I could in the time I was given so we'll just go back to the village and put you back on active duty. All you mostly need right now is more experiance. After that we can maybe get you a bit more training where you show some weakness and then you'll be great."

"I can't wait to finally go home. I wonder how much has changed in two years?" Naruto mused aloud as the man smiled and shrugged. Who knew how much everything changed, if it changed at all. He'd just have to wait for them to get back to the village so he could find out.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

And that is the prologue to my new story. I know it focused almost entirely on Vestara but that's because I wanted to set up what has happened to her since her escape at the end of the FotJ series. I also wanted a reason to both explain most of her backstory as well as what she's thinking about and how she plans to accomplish her goals, which aren't really her goals right now since she's currently reluctant to face the Jedi due to her pining for Ben still. I also couldn't just have her randomly pop in on Naruto's world without any explination since at the end of Apocolypse Ship was carrying her off to what was implied to be Korriban and the One Sith. I needed to change that and sort of slow down her arrival there so that I could instead have her slip off to find Naruto. And I needed a reason for her to actually even know about him and want to find him in the first place, hence the very conveniant Force vision that showed Vestara on Naruto's world with him as her apprentice. Now she has direction so she's off to try and find him so that she can turn him to the dark side.

Also, as you can see from the small mention in the vision, chakra has an effect on the Force but is not the Force at all. I'm going to use the same explination as Darth Malleus does in his story _The Good Left Undone _in that the Force is an external source of power while chakra is internal. While the two are similar and can even do some of the same things, they are seperate meaning Naruto is going to have Force abilities and his shinobi abilities together. In fact, Naruto's full power is already completly mapped out for the story, as are the other Shinobi/Force users. There will only be three total; Naruto and Sasuke are obvious since one's going to be a Sith and the other a Jedi but I'll leave you all guessing about the third to get both skillsets and what their alliegence is.

So I hope you review and leave some pairing suggestions or questions for me to answer. See you next chapter!


	2. First Encounters

**Junky: **Therew will be a bit of mocking of the Jedi later when the story progresses beyond Naruto's world. And I only have a very basic outline of the ending planned out yet so I can't really say much about whether or not Naruto will have a 'good' ending. All I can really say is he won't be dead.

**Peter Kim:** If you paid some attention to the small Naruto scene at the end, you'd have seen that last chapter took place about a month before the start of the Shippuden years. This chapter picks up right at that timeline.

**Cozman10:** A really good Naruto/Star Wars crossover is the one I mentioned in the AN at the bottom last chapter. That guy also has another story but it's only one chapter long so far and hasn't been touched in forever.

**gamelover41592:** Vestara is going to have her work cut out for her in turning NAruto to the dark side, but once she does Naruto will be Sith through and through. It's going to take a few chapters though as their first meeting here will show.

**He-Who-Shall-Live:** Naruto will follow close to how the Lost Tribe believes but that's mainly because Vestara is from the Lost Tribe and she's the one teaching him. However he'll also come to form his own beliefs and morals about the right way for the Sith to move forward eventually.

**kishinokurobi:** Naruto's not going to have any relationships outside of Vestara. At first he'll still be in love with Sakura but then he'll get over her. And eventually he'll come to love Vestara. However that doesn't mean everythings going to work out right away. Vestara is still hung up on Ben and that's going to take a long time to break considering how close they were. And even then, with the culture and secrecy of the Sith, the two are going to have some trouble moving forward with their feelings for each other at first. As for NAruto's personality, well he'll start like his canon self. Meaning he'll be an idealistic and determined guy who's not very bright but will never give up and wants to help everyone he can. Vestara will twist that to her advantage until Naruto is more Sith-like later on.

**Dante 101:** I didn't view summarizing the whole 9-book FotJ series as a pain. Personally I saw summarizing the books from Vestara's point of view as a challenge and enjoyed it. Also, Vestara is and will be refered to as a Sith Lady by others. However when talking about groups or the rank in general Lord is used more often than not instead of separating the two. The dark side may be more action based but you do see Sith meditting at times. The Grand Lord of the Lost Tribe did in the FotJ series, Vader was reported having done it, even Palpatine. They just don't place as much emphasis on it as the Jedi do. Also, the ability to recieve visions in the Force isn't only for Jedi. As you pointed out, they're rare to Sith but they can happen. Palpatine was always quoting himself as 'I have forseen it' and the great Darth Malgus got a Force vision. So did Darth Bane. Yes, Vestara is somewhat inexperianced, but she's also very strong in the Force and very determined which help her get through when up against something new. And I said the Chiss rule most of the Unknown Regions because to the standpoint of anybody from teh rest of the known galaxy they do. The Chiss are very secretive and don't tell everyone everything about them. Plus the Chiss are a very proud race so they wouldn't go and tell the GA they aren't as strong as they're believed to be, they'd let the misconseption go.

**Authors Note:** Nobody seemed happy about the decision to make Sasuke a Jedi so I'm going to explain it so everyone will understand why I'm doing it. And it's not because I like Sasuke, to be honest after his fight with Itachi the guy just went to shit.

I'm making Sasuke a Jedi because I wanted a shinobi on Naruto's level to join the Jedi so that when Naruto begins to make an impact on the galaxy with his chakra abilities, they'd have someone who could explain things to them since nobody else would know what they are and they wouldn't be able to ask Naruto (After all he's their enemy, he won't tell them squat.) I chose Sasuke because he understands Naruto and by that time he'll have a good grasp, but not perfect, on Naruto's tactics. Plus with my plans for Naruto in regards to Konoha, I couldn't grab anybody from there. With the way I plan on changing Naruto I couldn't grab Gaara out of Suna either. So who's left that Naruto will get along with and already knows outside of the village? At the current point in Naruto canon it's only Sasuke since everyone else outside of Konoha is either an unknown or an enemy to him.

Now if you're just against it because you think Sasuke's going to be super strong then guess again. Shinobi-wise he'll get the Eternal Mangekyou like his canon counter-part and be a very strong ninja. However his skill in the Force is going to be hardly better than the average Knight. He won't have any skill in nudging minds and perceptions, though he won't need to thanks to genjutsu. He also will have a hard time with telekenisis and will never recieve a Force vision of any kind. In the grand scheme of things when I compare him against what I'm planning for Naruto I can say he'll be the better swordsman but that's about it. They'll be pretty even in their shinobi skills but in the Force Naruto will be able to blow Sasuke away without much trouble. Trust me, I hate how Sasuke can do everything in canon as well so I'm not giving him everything here. He'll be second to a lot of people. Strong and recognized as such, but nowhere near the best.

* * *

**Chapter 01 - First Encounters**

Konohagakure no Sato, Hi no Kuni, Unnamed planet

"I'm back Konoha!" Naruto cheered as he stood atop a light pole looking over the village. With a grin he noticed that Tsunade's face had been added to the Hokage Monument. "Oh wow, they added Baa-chan's face up there huh?" He muttered to himself as he thought about how good it felt to be home after two and a half years away training non-stop. He and his sensei Jiraiya had only just made it back to the village ten minutes ago and the whiskered blond couldn't help but smile. A few people recognized him and he was happy to notice a few smiled towards him rather than glared like he remembered. It came more from the few shinobi that recognized him then the civilians but it was something he'd take for now, happy that his efforts were actually bearing fruit. Eventually he'd win over the village entirely, he could wait for it.

"Naruto, is that you?" Drawing him out of his thoughts was a voice to his right that he looked over to see belonged to a man with silver hair spiked up in a gravity defying style. His Konoha headband was tilted to cover his left eye while he also had a cloth face mask up that hid everything from his nose down. He wore the standard Konoha attire besides that which consisted of a green vest with a red spiral on the back and a long sleeved dark blue shirt and pants of the same color.

"Oh hey! Kakashi-sensei, it's good to see you!" The blond cheered as he hopped off the pole over to his previous sensei with a grin. "Hey, I've got something for you." The sixteen year old told him as he dug into the equipment pouch at his lower back and pulled out a book title Icha Icha Tactics. "Here, I know you like the series and all so I figured you can take this. Ero-sennin made me read it but I didn't really like it all too much. Figured I should give it to someone who would like it." The boy explained as Kakashi took the book reverently as if it were a holy treasure.

"Naruto... thank you so much..." He whispered as he held the book lightly in his hands. Naruto only shook his head with a small sigh before hearing his name being called and looking down to see his sensei Jiraiya standing next to a girl his own age. With another grin at the idea of reuniting with his old friends the teen jumped down to the pair and grinned.

Jiraiya stood off to the side with a smile, his spiky white hair tied back into a tail behind his head and red lines coming down from his eyes like tear lines. He wore an olive green kimono top with a sleeveless red haori over it and geta sandals rather than the standard shinobi type. Strapped to his back was a large scroll and rather than the normal Konoha headband he had a horned version with the kanji for 'oil' in place of the spira leaf symbol.

The girl had pink hair that stopped just above her shoulders and light green eyes while her Konoha headband had a red cloth and was being used as a hairband instead of over her forehead. She had on a red top with white trim and a white circle on the back with a tan skirt on over black spandex shorts with Anbu style leg guards and black gloves on as well. The girl was looking over Naruto with a small smile he gladly returned. "Wow Naruto, it really is you. You've grown haven't you?" She asked as Naruto grinned and stepped up to her and held a hand over her head before comparing her height to his.

"I wasn't gonna stay a shrimp forever Sakura-chan!" The blond joked as she laughed lightly.

"I can see that." She replied as she looked him up and down again with a smile. "You look more mature now you know? Smarter even." She commented as he grinned and rubbed a finger under his nose at the praise while Sakura held a hand up to her chin and made a small pose. "So what do you think about me? Have I grown Naruto?" She asked as the blond looked her over and grinned.

"Nah, you still look like I remember Sakura." He answered as he closed his eyes and gave her a thumbs' up. He should've kept his eyes open though because maybe then he would've seen the hit coming.

"BAKA!" Sakura shouted as she slammed her fist on the top of his head, sending the orange loving teen into the ground. "First time we see each other in over two years and you say I look the same?! I've grown damnit! I take back what I said about you being smarter! You're still the same knucklehead as before!"

"Aw but Sakura-chan!" Naruto moaned as he held his head and got back up. Kakashi had come down by this time and was chuckling at how the pair were acting together, almost as if the past two years had never passed. Jiraiya was laughing as well at the hole his apprentice dug himself into while inwardly thinking about how much the girl reminded him of his old teammate and fellow Sannin Tsunade.

"Play catch up later you two. The brat and I still have to check in with Tsunade you know." The Toad Sage commented so Sakura backed off of her rough-housing Naruto, much to his relief, and the four then walked to the Kage Building together.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

"It's good to see you again Naruto." Tsunade commented as she hugged the boy. The woman had blond hair tied into twin tails behind her head hanging down her back as well as a small purple diamond on her forehead. She wore a gray kimono top with a green jacket over it with the kanji for gamble on the back and dark blue pants with high heeled versions of the shinobi sandals. Naruto returned the hug before pulling back with a grin.

"Good to see you too Baa-chan."

WHAM!

"Ow damnit! Why're people hitting me so much?!"

"Damn brat! Two years later and you're still calling me that? I oughta punch you out've the village for that!" Tsunade growled as Naruto was again clutching his head after getting a fist driven painfully onto it. Sakura was chuckling into her hand while Kakashi let out a few chuckles of his own at the sight.

"Heh, two years later and nothings changed at all huh?" Jiraiya commented as Tsunade glared at where he was standing at the entrance of the room.

"Shut it you pervert. You're probably why he hasn't dropped that habit to begin with!" The man jokingly held his hands up as if to beg forgiveness while she sighed befors heading back around to sit in her chair again while the others lined up in front of her desk. "Seriously though, it's nice to have you two back in the village again. It's been quiet with you both gone."

"Hehe, I can change that if you want Baa-chan." Naruto put out and she rolled her eyes with a grin.

"I don't want you to actually, but I know you will anyways." The Godaime Hokage muttered as Naruto sheepishly grinned, not even bothering to deny her claim as it was most likely true. "Now, let's get down to business shall we?"

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

_'Such a backwater planet.'_ Vestara thought dismissvely as she walked down the main street of Konoha. It had taken her a month but thanks to Ship she had been able to find the planet only just that very morning. After searching out the strongest Force preseance she could and finding it heading towards this village the girl had Ship land a kilometer outside it's walls and then hiked the rest of the way to the village proper. She spent most of the morning learning the layout of the village while also going over what Ship had mentioned when they first found the planet.

"I believe I have found it Lady Khai."_ The sphere pointed out as they came closer to the blue and green planet from space. The planet itself was one large continent that took up a third of the planet with the rest being covered in ocean while it only had one lifeless moon orbiting it. Vestara was curious as to why Ship believed this was the planet they had been searching a little over a month for when it answered, gleening the question from her thoughts._ "My sensors, limited as they are, are reading a strange but non-harmful radiation over the entire planet."

_"I see. And you believe it may be the chakra I spoke of from my vision?" She asked and Ship gave her a feeling in the Force she compared to a nod._

"I believe so Lady Khai. I am having a difficult time feeling the life down below through the Force and you mentioned the energy muddled the feeling of your power as well."_ Ship explained and she nodded._

_"I see." She muttered as she closed her eyes and focused on the planet before her, hoping to expierance just what Ship meant herself. It wasn't particularly hard either. She could feel the planet before her, however it also felt diluted or clouded as if through a screen of static. Opening her eyes back up the girl nodded again. "It's worth checking out in any case. If it turns out to be another planet then we'll simply move on after I resupply and rest." She said as she sensed Ship agreeing with her plan of action. "Now to try and find the one who I'm supposed to take as my apprentice..." She muttered before focusing her efforts in the Force again. She knew she'd want a strong apprentice so she was going to look for the most powerful Force preseance she could sense on the planet and go to it. If it turned out not to be the boy from her vision she'd seek the next strongest before deciding to move onto the next planet. She planned on only training the best and nothing else. If neither were the blond haired, whisker faced teen she had forseen then this wasn't the planet she was looking for, strange Force-muddling energy or not._

"Lady Khai, I believe this is something you should know."

_"Oh?" Vestara grunted questioningly as she opened one eye to see Ship had turned to face the moon. "What is it Ship?"_

"My sensors are not very sophisticated or specialized as I have mentioned but they are saying something strange about that moon."

_"What about it? Is it inhabited or something?"_

"No, it is as lifeless as possible. However the radiation I have detected on the planet is much stronger on the moon."_ Ship began and Vestara waved a hand impatiently for the sphere to continue, sensing that it had more to say. _"It's also quite young."

_"Young? Young how?" She asked, confused as to how a moon could be young._

"My sensors indicate the planet is many millenia old, however the moon is only a few thousand at most."

_"What?" She questioned as she opened both eyes in confusion before narrowing them. "How would that be possible?" Ship however had no answer for her so she went back to sensing for her would-be apprentice again while making a mental note to question the locals about their moon if she could find an expert._

Vestara had then landed and traveled to the large settlement she learned was named Konoha and began looking around. Since her current Jedi clothes were mostly filthy from a lack of washing, due to not having anything other than water to clean them or having anything to else change into, Vestara had first searched out a clothing store and gotten some new clothes and used a small nudge in the Force to make the cashier believe she had paid for them when she hadn't offered up a single credit. Or whatever it was this planet used for currency, she hadn't discovered that yet.

Vestara was now dressed in black pants that went into black leather boots with a dark red V-cut short sleeved shirt, showing a small amount of her chest. Over the shirt was a black leather hooded jacket with silver studs on the shoulders and a couple pockets on the chest and inside as well. Completing the look were black gloves with metal plates on the back and a small black ribbon she used to tie her brown hair back in a braid behind her head.

After getting the new clothes she had gone to a small food stand and used another Force nudge to get free food, trying a plate of local cuisine with a simple glass of water. She was slightly glad the people spoke Basic and that water was the same as everywhere else in the galaxy. If the language barrier had come up, she would've been extremely lost and she knew it, even if she was tri-lingual. Vestara was also glad that the planet seemed populated by humans as it meant she would blend in better than if it were filled with Wookies for example.

_'This place seems so peaceful...' _She thought as she took note of the masked people leaping across the rooftops without anyone batting an eye. Reaching for them in the Force let her know they were focused and confident in the way warriors would be so she scoffed slightly. _'Of course perhaps that's simply because the danger is supressed by whoever they are.'_ She was getting the same sense of confidence from others around her and noticed they all had on a piece of cloth with the same metal plate somewhere on their bodies, though they for the most part felt less focused than the masked ones. _'A military insignia perhaps? And these are either the off duty troops or a different rank entirely?'_ She mused as she thought back on her vision and realized the teen also had on one of the plates, tied around his forehead like a headband. _'Hm... If I'm right then my new apprentice will already have some combat training.'_ She realized with a small grin as she kept walking through the village. _'Good. I'll be able to focus on other things then.'_

Deciding she had seen enough for now and that she should find the boy she was looking for, Vestara focused herself in the Force for the strong preseance she had come here for. It normally would have been simple since there was only one preseance that shined brighter than a normal sentients' would, however the energy of the world was clouding her senses slightly and she hadn't gotten used to sensing through it yet so it took her a moment. Once she had a lock on her target though the teenaged girl began to head closer to the village center to find the one she wanted.

Idly she thought about how few Force-sensitives this planet had. With Ship boosting her abilities in space she had only felt around a dozen life-forms with any actual strength in the Force across the entire planet. She had then narrowed her search down to the strongest and followed it the the village. The fact the planet was a backwater with what seemed like little in the ways of modern technology had worked in her favor as it meant nobody would be able to track Ship or even make notice that she had landed at all. Though it did mean she had to deal with a lack of many modern amenities she enjoyed. However as a Sith she had been trained to do without them if she needed to, whether by nessecity or simple lack. Coming to this planet didn't change that about her at all.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

"Alright, I'll see you guys tomorrow." Naruto said as he left Sakura, Jiraiya and Kakashi in front of the Kage Building to head home for the first time in two years. The meeting with Tsunade had gone well with her welcoming him back and marking him and Sakura for a test the next morning against Kakashi to see where he stood as well as the skills of her own apprentice. After that there had been a bit of talk to catch up with each other before Tsunade dismissed them so she could get back to her own work. Kakashi was going to head home to start reading the book Naruto had given him while Sakura claimed she had a bit of work at the hospital to do as she part-timed there and Jiraiya wanted to go do some 'research' so Naruto was left alone to head home and unpack.

Closing his eyes as he walked the blond had a large grin on his face as he was thinking on everything he would do now that he was back. Later he'd likely head to Ichiraku Ramen to say hello to Tuechi and Ayame while gorging himself on his favorite food. Maybe he'd look for his old Academy teacher Iruka before going so they could catch up as well. Or perhaps he'd look for his other classmates to see how they were doing instead. Now that he was back there was simply so much for him to do and catch up on. Like getting a promotion for instance, as he was the only one of his classmates that was still genin, the rest having risen to chunin during the two years he was gone.

Since he had his eyes closed he never saw the girl step in front of him so he had bumped into her and bounced a couple steps back as she had fallen down. "Oh! Ah, sorry about that. Wasn't watching where I was going." Naruto apologized as he offered her a hand to help her up that she took before looking at him. The second she did her eyes widened and Naruto tilted his head in confusion at the apparent recognition. He could honestly claim to have never seen the girl before in his life but if the look in her eyes was to be believed, she knew him. "Are you alright?" He asked as she took a step back and narrowed her eyes before walking around him silently. Naruto was slightly annoyed by this and didn't bother trying to hide it either as it showed clearly on his face. "Is there something you need? Or am I just that interesting?"

"Tell me, is your name Naruto by any chance?" She asked, ignoring his questions. Blinking at the question he narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest as he kept up his irritated look.

"Isn't it polite to offer your own name first before asking for someone elses?" He asked as she raised a brow.

"Is that how it works here? I didn't know." She commented before stopping in front of him. "My name is Vestara Khai. Now are you Naruto or are you not?" She introduced before asking his name again.

"Naruto Uzumaki." He confirmed with a nod. Hearing that she was right made her smirk, idly drawing Naruto's attention to the scar over the left part of her lip makig the smirk seem lopsided. "So can I help you with something?" He asked again as she kept her smirk up.

"Actually yes you could. I have something to possibly offer you that would be to our mutual benefit. Is there someplace we could talk in private?" Naruto tilted his head slighty in confusion before shrugging his shoulders and nodding his head.

"Sure. I was just headed home. We could talk there I guess." Vestara merely nodded that it was fine with her and followed as he started walking home again. Along the way he noticed she kept looking him over intently making him wonder just what it was she wanted.

"I have a question you should be able to help with." She put out, making Naruto raise an eyebrow at how forward she seemed to be before shrugging again.

"Alright, shoot."

"That metal plate on your headband. I've seen it on many throughout this village and I've been wondering just what it stands for. Could you tell me?" She asked as Naruto actually stopped and turned to her confused.

"Wait, you don't even know what our headbands stand for?" He asked in an incredulous tone. She narrowed her eyes at the tone.

"I'm not from around here." She answered stiffly, making Naruto realize he may have inadvertantly insulted her. Raising his hands to hopefully calm her down he started walking again.

"Sorry, it's just that's common knowledge in the village." He started. "The headband means we're ninja in the village's military force. The spiral leaf is the symbol for Konoha, our village. I happen to be a genin, which is the lowest rank in the forces. I would be higher but I just got back today from a training trip around the Nations so I haven't had a chance to take the Exams for a promotion. The next rank is called chunin, with the rank after that being jonin. The special forces are the Anbu, and they wear masks over their faces to protect their identities and the village leader is the Kage, with a different Kage running each of the Five Great Villages, which Konoha is currently at the top of. Our Kage is the Hokage, which right now is one of the strongest women in the world being Tsunade Senju." He explained, pointing up at Tsunade's face on the mountainside as they walked. Vestara nodded her understanding so Naruto decided to pose his own question. "So if you're not from around Konoha, where are you from? Since you didn't know about the village headbands I'm pretty sure you can't be from one of the shinobi villages."

"Shinobi?" She asked so he raised a brow again at her lack of common knowledge.

"It's another name for ninja. Shinobi usually refers to the guys though while the women are called kunoichi." He explained as she nodded again.

"Well your correct, I'm not from any of these... shinobi villages." She said, testing the word on her toungue for a moment before continuing. "I'm from the city of Tahv, from a place called Kesh." She explained, leaving out that Kesh was an entirely different planet. She had gathered that this planet didn't have space-traveling capabilites, much like the Lost Tribe used to be before Ship's arrival. As such she wasn't going to mention she was an off-worlder until she learned whether that was simply from a lack of building supplies for a starship, like her people had, or from these people not knowing of life beyond their planet, which would make them even more of a backwater planet then Vestara thought possible since space-travel had been commonplace for so many millenia nobody could even remember when it started.

"Tahv, Kesh huh? Yeah, no offense but I've never heard of that place." Naruto admitted as the girl nodded, expecting that answer. The blond took a small turn before leading her up the stairs of a large apartment complex before opening his door and letting her in as he looked around with a smile. "Man it's good to be back..." He muttered, something she caught.

"Be back? I thought this was your home?"

"It is." He admitted as he set his pack down. "But like I mentioned earlier, I just got back from a training trip around the Nations today. This is the first time I've been here in over two years."

"I see." Vestara muttered before seeing his table and raising a brow, to which Naruto nodded as she took a seat at one of the two chairs and he went over to his cabinet.

"Oh cool, Baa-chan had the place re-stocked for me." He cheered as he saw his shelves filled with food. Opening his fridge revealed it too had fresh food inside. "Alrighty then. Ya want something to drink?" Naruto asked as Vestara shook her head. Shrugging Naruto grabbed a glass from a shelf and poured himself a glass of orange juice before sitting down across from her. He took a quick drink before he set the glass down and got down to business. "Okay, you said you wanted to offer me something that could help us both out so what is it?"

"Have you ever heard of the Sith?" She asked and Naruto shook his head so she began to explain. "The Sith are a sect of warriors that use a power called the Force. We are broken into many different branches all over but we all follow the same basic rules and beliefs. Currently the Sith are on the decline thanks to our enemies the Jedi, another sect of Force warriors opposed to us. I searched you out because I had a vision through the Force that showed you studying under me as my Sith apprentice. Recently I had been trying to decide my next move to help the Sith defeat the Jedi so I believe this vision I had was meant to show me that I am supposed to find you, as you can help the Sith regain their dominance against the Jedi." Vestara explained, leaving out a couple details about the light and dark sides of the Force or the galaxy at large. She meant what she said about her vision though as she had given that much thought during her month long search for Naruto. She had been confused and trying to figure out what to do next, as well as trying to put Ben Skywalker out of her mind and heart, when she recieved the vision. If she was supposed to find and train Naruto, that had to mean he could help her with her problems concerning her plans for the Sith.

Or her problems concerning Ben but there were a few ways to interpret that and she didn't really want to put much thought into them.

"Okay, so you want me to join this Sith group and help you beat these Jedi people?" She nodded her head at his simplization but he shook his in return. "Well I don't mean to rain on your parade but I don't think I can help you. I mean, I don't even have this 'Force' you use. I use chakra, just like every other shinobi in the world." Naruto told her as she narrowed her eyes.

_'So he doesn't even know he's a Force-sensitive. Considering how few there were on this planet and the lack of recognition about either the Sith or the Jedi I wouldn't be surprised if the entire planet was ignorant to the Force.'_ She thought before shaking her head. "That's not entirely true Naruto. I may not know what this chakra is, but I can sense the Force in you. Quite powerfully at that." She told him.

"You don't know what chakra is?" He asked, again shocked at her lack of knowledge. Even civilians at least _knew _what chakra was, even if they couldn't use it.

"I already told you, I'm not from around here."

"Yeah but chakra's everywhere. Everybody has chakra, though only shinobi train to use it." Naruto told her and seeing her questioning look he sighed and took another drink of his orange juice before leaning forward and gesturing with his hands as he began to explain. "Alright chakra is what you get when you mix the bodies' physical energy, which you get through training, and its mental or spiritual energy, which you get through knowledge and experiance. With the right training, you can use chakra to do just about anything." Naruto told her as she narrowed her eyes at the words.

"Show me."

"Huh?" He asked, caught off guard by her question. Or rather demand as she waved her hand flippantly.

"I said show me. If this chakra can do anything, and you are trained in its usage, then show me something." She ordered. Scowling at her attitude Naruto placed his hands in a cross seal in front of him.

"Fine. Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." (Shadow Clone Technique) He uttered as there was a puff of smoke behind Vestara and she turned around startled to see another Naruto standing behind her.

"It's real..." She gasped as the clone and original both grin.

"Yep. The Kage Bunshin no Jutsu is my go-to technique. It evenly splits my chakra among my clones for use in combat. The clones can do everything I can, but they're kind of unstable and a single good hit will dispel them." He admitted as Vestara stood up and poked the clone in the chest.

"It splits your chakra but not your Force-sensitivity." She told him as she turned back to him with a smirk. "I can still sense this clone in the Force and it's exactly as strong as you. There's a small reasonance from two of you existing in the same area but this clone is just as strong as you, even with only half of your apparent chakra." She explained. As he raised an eyebrow at the strange new knowledge before she raised a hand. "Since you were so kind to show me your powers, perhaps I should return the favor and show you a portion of mine." She offered before looking back at the clone and waving her hand. The clone let out a small shout in shock as it was lift off the ground. Naruto was even staring wide-eyed at his clone floating in mid-air waving its limbs around as it tried to get back to the floor. "If I killed this clone, would anything happen to you?" She asked.

"Uh... no." He asked, slightly afraid of what she was going to do to his clone now that she knew he wouldn't suffer any side effects. Vestara just grinned before pointing her hand at the clones throat and making a pinching motion. Suddenly the clone was clutching its throat and grunting as it struggled to breath. Closing her hand entirely into a fist cause a snap to echo out as the clones' neck was broken before it vanished in a cloud of smoke. Naruto rubbed a hand across his own throat both from watching his own clone have its neck snapped and from a small bit of phantom pain the clone had trasferred back to him. "Wow... that wasn't very nice."

"In combat, nice is the last thing a Sith wants to be." She told him as she sat back down, still smirking at him. "Like I said, you have great strength in the Force from what I can sense. I can teach you to do that and much more if you'll agree to become my apprentice." Vestara offered and Naruto lowered his gaze as he thought it over.

"What... what would I have to do if I take this offer? I mean, you said helpping the Sith against the Jedi and I've gotten that means some fighting of course but what else?" He asked and Vestara stayed calm as she gathered her thoughts and told him.

"You'd have to leave this village while you're helpping me of course. Should you wish to return later then you may so long as you aren't needed in our efforts against the Jedi." Naruto's head shot up at this in shock as she closed her eyes and continued. "You'd have to devote yourself to the ways of the Sith, obey my commands as your master, and that's all I can think of at this moment."

"I'd have to leave?" He gasped and she opened her eyes and nodded.

"Yes you would. I've traveled a long way to find you and we'd have to travel back to help the Sith. You wouldn't be able to come back for a long time."

"But what about my goals here? What about my friends?" Naruto asked as she raised a brow in question. "I've got some friends here I wouldn't want to leave behind for who knows how long. Plus I've got a promise to keep to bring back a friend and I want to become Hokage eventually. I can't just leave." Naruto explained as she nodded slightly.

"Well technically we wouldn't have to leave right away. I could train you here for a while first before we'd leave." Vestara admitted. "As for your other goals, those are different. If you can get this friend back before we'd have to leave then you'd keep your promise without issue. However if I remember your talk earlier, the Hokage is the leader of this village. Wanting to lead is admirable I'll admit, but if you agree to join the Sith, you'd have to give that up. You'd be too busy helping in the fight against the Jedi to lead this one small village."

"Small? Konoha is one of the largest villages in the world!"

"And is quite small in the grand scheme of things." Vestara shot down, having seen many cities larger. Tahv was larger than Konoha, and that wasn't even comparing it to Coruscant, the planet which was entirely one large city. Konoha hardly compared with one district of Coruscants' vast city-scape.

"I... I don't think I could do that Vestara." Naruto admitted quietly as he looked down. "I'm an orphan, so my dreams and goals are all I really have. If I'd have to give them up to help you and the Sith then..." He trailed off before shaking his head. "I'm sorry Vestara, but I don't think I can help you after all." Vestara narrowed her eyes at his refusal before standing up.

"Maybe not now. But perhaps later you'll change your mind. I'll keep in touch." She told him before leaving the apartment. Naruto sighed sadly, it was never easy for him to say now to helpping someone and from what he could gather Vestara could really use his help. Still though, the price she was asking him to pay in return for the power she was offering was just to high for him to do so. He wasn't lying when he said his goals and dreams were all he had. Finishing his juice Naruto stood up and picked up his pack from where he left it before heading to his room. He still had to unpack and then rest up for his test tomorrow.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

_"Ship, I'm coming back."_

_"I'm still where I first landed Lady Khai." _The meditation sphere responded to her thoughts. After leaving Naruto's apartment she had focused her thoughts in Ship's direction and started to head out for her vessal. She wasn't sure she could Force someone into putting her up for the night without question and her pride wouldn't let her beg either so she only had Ship to go to for shelter. It wasn't like she wasn't used to sleeping on his floor to begin with anyways so it didn't bother her. What did bother her though, was Naruto's refusal.

In hindsight she shouldn't have expected it would be so easy to bring him to the dark side under her wing. She had simply assumed he'd instantly agree because of her vision, in which he showed no reservations towards his decision to be her apprentice. Then again the vision was brief and who knew when exactly that could have taken place in his training? It could have been months from now after he had resigned himself to being her apprentice and no longer cared for his other goals. Or maybe even then he still held those reservations and was simply putting them out of his mind to focus on whatever task had been at hand. The vision was too short and uninformative to tell.

The counters Naruto had brought up certainly made sense to Vestara and left her without a viable counter-arguement on such short notice, given time though she was sure she could convince him otherwise. She was honest when she said they wouldn't have to leave right away. She had been honest when she said they could get this missing friend back before leaving as well. However if Naruto was to be Sith he had to give up on the idea of leading this small backwater village and instead turn him to the idea of ruling the stars. The village was small, but the galaxy was great. But Naruto, and his people as a whole it seemed, didn't know of about life beyond their world. As such this small village seemed great to him. If she wanted to get him to join her, then she'd have to make him give up on his goal of leading the village first. While an admirable goal, ambition being a highly prized virtue for the Sith, he was thinking too small in the grand scheme of the galaxy.

_"Did you manage to find your apprentice?"_ Ship asked, his voice cutting through her thoughts as she left the village gates and started walking through the woods surrounding the village towards where she had landed on the planet.

_"I found him. However he refused to become my apprentice due to... personal reasons."_ She replied, still scowling from being refused. _"But I will not give up so easily. He was my apprentice in the vision and I will have him willingly as such in time."_

_"Determination and a refusal to give up are good qualities for a Sith."_ Ship praised as she smirked.

_"I've never let anything I wanted out of my grasp and I don't plan to start now with something so important."_ She replied. In fact she couldn't remember anytime she had wanted something she didn't eventually get.

Save for Ben.

The thought came out of nowhere and made her pause in her walk before sighing and shaking her head as she continued on her way. The one thing she had wanted that she never got was to spend her life with Ben Skywalker at her side but she couldn't bring herself to be a Jedi and he refused to be a Sith. While she had greatly enjoyed and even loved their time together and the boy himself, she had known from the beginning it could never last. Vestara had only been deluding herself otherwise.

Turning her thoughts back to matter at hand concerning her soon-to-be apprentice, even if he didn't accept it yet, Vestara tried to think of how to convince him to her side. The simplest way she could think of would be to turn the village against him. Make him think the village would never accept him as their leader so he'd give up on that goal. Or perhaps incite something to push him out of the village. So long as she broke that then he would eventually come to the dark side and her as she offered to get him what he wanted. Power, knowledge, presitge and acknowledgment. The Sith could give him all of them if he would pledge himself to their cause. She knew this as that was what was offered to here and she had them, if only for a short time before the business with Abeloth ruined everything.

But like the One Sith, she would be patient for her goals. She wouldn't wait years like they did, but a bit of patience now in recruiting such a strong Force sensitive could only pay off greatly in the future.


End file.
